I'm trying to go without a skimmer. I'm at 20 ppm nitrates currently and havn't had a problem with nitrites and ammonia ever for the past year. its really just the nitrates that have been problematic. I have an inline DSB and am now developing an inline veg filter. I am also trying to set up a zooplankton reactor in the DSB tank, providing different pore sized sponges as habitat. this system is about 2 years old (i took about a year off, so to speak, with no skimmer and no water changes, nitrates went through the roof but no other problems. i even did top off with tap water for half the time). not to mention i have a mud sump with cheato (it grew huge during my hiatus and then died back to half size)
whether or not you can successfully get rid of your skimmer really depends on how your system is set up and stocking levels, water current, amount of establish live rock and sand, etc ,etc, etc
if you just yank your skimmer without setting up and establishing alternative methods to deal with nutrients then you're going to have problems i think